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THE DIME
Author Unknown
Bobby was getting cold sitting out in his back yard in the snow.
Bobby
didn't wear boots; he didn't like them and anyway he didn't own any.
The thin sneakers he wore had a few holes in them and they did a poor
job of
keeping out the cold. Bobby had been in his backyard for about an
hour
already. And, try as he might, he could not come up with an idea for
his
mother's Christmas gift. He shook his head as he thought, "This is
useless, even if I do come up with an idea, I don't have any money to
spend,"Ever since his father had passed away three years ago, the
family of five had struggled. It wasn't because his mother didn't
care, or try, there
just never seemed to be enough. She worked nights at the hospital,
but
the small wage that she was earning could only be stretched so far.
What the family lacked in money and material things, they more
than made up for in love and family unity. Bobby had two older and
one
younger sister, who ran the house hold in their mother's absence. All
three of his sisters had already made beautiful gifts for their
mother. Somehow
it just wasn't fair. Here it was Christmas Eve already, and he had
nothing.
Wiping a tear from his eye, Bobby kicked the snow and started
to walk down to the street where the shops and stores were. It wasn't
easy being six without a father, especially when he needed a man to
talk to.
Bobby walked from shop to shop, looking into each decorated window.
Everything seemed so beautiful and so out of reach.
It was starting to get dark and Bobby reluctantly turned to
walk home when suddenly his eyes caught the glimmer of the setting
sun's
rays reflecting off of something along the curb. He reached down and
discovered a shiny dime. Never before has anyone felt so wealthy as
Bobby felt at that moment. As he held his new found treasure, a warmth
spread
throughout his entire body and he walked into the first store he saw.
His excitement quickly turned cold when the salesperson told him that
he couldn't buy anything with only a dime. He saw a flower shop and
went
inside to wait in line. When the shop owner asked if he could help
him,
Bobby presented the dime and asked if he could buy one flower for his
mother's Christmas gift. The shop owner looked at Bobby and his ten
cent offering. Then he put his hand on Bobby's shoulder and said to
him, "You just wait here and I'll see what I can do for you."
As Bobby waited he looked at the beautiful flowers and even
though he was a boy, he could see why mothers and girls liked
flowers.
The sound of the door closing as the last customer left
jolted Bobby back to reality. All alone in the shop, Bobby began to
feel
alone and afraid. Suddenly the shop owner came out and moved to the
counter.
There, before Bobby's eyes, lay twelve long stem, red roses, with
leaves
of green and tiny white flowers all tied together with a big silver
bow.
Bobby's heart sank as the owner picked them up and placed them
gently into a long white box."That will be ten cents young man," the
shop owner said reaching out his hand for the dime.
Slowly, Bobby moved his hand to give the man his dime. Could
this be true? No one else would give him a thing for his dime!
Sensing the boy's reluctance, the shop owner added, "I just happened
to have some roses on sale for ten cents a dozen. Would you like
them?"
This time Bobby did not hesitate, and when the man placed the long box
into his hands, he knew it was true. Walking out the door that the
owner
was holding for Bobby, he heard the shop keeper say, "Merry
Christmas,
son,"
As he returned inside, the shop keeper's wife walked out. "Who
were you talking to back there and where are the roses you were
fixing?"
Staring out the window, and blinking the tears from his own eyes, he
replied,"A strange thing happened to me this morning. While I was
setting up things to open the shop, I thought I heard a voice telling
me to set
aside a dozen of my best roses for a special gift. I wasn't sure at
the
time whether I had lost my mind or what, but I set them aside anyway.
Then just a few minutes ago, a little boy came into the shop
and wanted to buy a flower for his mother with one small dime.
"When I looked at him, I saw myself, many years ago. I too, was a
poor
boy with nothing to buy my mother a Christmas gift. A bearded man,
whom
I never knew, stopped me on the street and told me that he
wanted to just give me ten dollars.
"When I saw that little boy tonight, I knew who that voice was, and
I put together a dozen of my very best roses." The shop owner and
his wife hugged each other tightly, and as they stepped out into the
bitter cold air, they somehow didn't feel cold at all.
